SACRAMENTO --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement in response to today’s developments in the effort to approve former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:

“President Obama's nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray, should be approved immediately.

“Before serving all Americans as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Chief of Enforcement, Cordray served the people of Ohio. As their Attorney General, he helped consumers, investors, business owners, and retirees, recovering billions of dollars in pension funds and protecting Ohioans from deceitful foreclosures and lenders who tried to make a fast buck.

“Richard Cordray has worked to protect middle-class families. He’s an American who finds solutions to our most pressing problems, and that’s why his nomination is supported by both Democrats and Republicans around the country, including the National Association of Attorneys General.

“Last year, the President signed financial reform into law to help combat the roots of our current economic crisis and to tighten the controls on Wall Street firms to ensure they do not have the ability to take the same kind of risks that started the economic crisis in the first place. The legislation also established strong consumer protections for Americans. America can’t return to a time when consumers weren’t protected and when a huge financial crisis could devastate our whole economy.